The Untold Tale
by blackamber41
Summary: What if Lloyd had an older sister? What happened to her? And what is she doing with Yuan? Find out. YuanXOC
1. Prologue

This was an idea I had for a while... what would happen is Lloyd had an older sister? This story is going to split into two parts. The first part is going to be Raine and Dylan's travels together and the second is going to cross-over with the game's timeline.

I kinda felt bad for Yuan since Martel died and he's all lonesome. So I invented Dylan- not her real name... I decided if there can be a character named Lloyd there can be one named Dylan. For the sake of making sense- or maybe not- Dylan is now a dwarven name, given to her by Dirk since she could not remember her own and Anna died before she could tell Dirk her name. You will find out her real name later.

I hope you enjoy this and I love reviews so please do. Just no flames please. Anywho, on with the story!

-Blackamber

* * *

Lloyd's gaze traveled outside of the window, for the first time in his life, contemplating seriously on something. He thought of his older sister, it was hard to believe how long it has been since he last saw her; when she had returned with the Professor from their worldly travels. He had been too young, too inexperienced to go with them that time and she denied him permission to join her on her latest voyage.

She had always been like this, from the time she had left with the Professor.

"_Awww! Why can't I go with you?" Lloyd complained to his older sister. _

_His sister smiled at him, running a hand through her auburn locks, "'Cause you are _way_ too young, Lloyd. Maybe when you're a little older, 'kay?"_

"_Genis, you be good while I'm gone," Raine told her little brother, "don't 'cause any trouble for Dirk." The silver haired 'elf' turned to her best friend, "Are we ready?"_

_The young woman nodded back, strapping her twin swords horizontally across her lower back. _

"_Dylan! I wanna come too!" Lloyd whined. _

"_I know you do, baby brother," she soothed, hugging him, "I want you to come too, but I need you to watch over Iselia for me. It's a very important job." _

"_Dylan," Dirk beckoned to her, "I've packed some things for you." The dwarf handed her her pack, "And I'd like you to have this." He placed a small sack of gil in her hand._

"_Oh, Dirk, I can't accept this," Dylan said, about to hand the sack back._

_Dirk shook his head, "While your traveling I won't be able to help you much, so I wish to give you some aid before you leave. Keep it, I've had some generous patrons lately." _

"_Thank you," Dylan bowed to him._

"_Bye Dylan! Bye Professor!" Lloyd waved to them as Genis stood beside him, waving to his sister as well. "Kick some monster and Desian butt while you're gone!"_

_His sister had smiled back at him, waving as well. It would be the last time he would see her for three years. They had returned much the same as they had left, smiling as brightly as ever, waving at people; they were tired, that much was evident, but there was something hidden behind the older Irving siblings' smile that wasn't right._

_She had brought back a horse-like animal with her, meaning to keep it as a pet; much like Noishe was. She had affectionately called this creature Cielo_

_She was home for two years; a look of longing in her eyes every time she glanced towards the distant world outside of Iselia. _

Lloyd could remember the night she left, the conversation with Dirk thinking he couldn't hear.

"_And where are you planning on going?" Dirk asked._

"_Back to Luin. It is my birthplace and they seem to know the most about our family. I found out my real name there," Dylan's voice drifted up to her hidden brother's ears._

"_Will you be taking Raine with you?"_

"_Not this time. She suffered a lot on our previous journey, and she should spend time with her brother."_

"_And what about your brother? Shouldn't you be spending time with your brother?"_

"_Lloyd is older than Genis he… he's old enough to take care of himself, I've done all I can. I can't stay here without knowing the truth, I have to find him Dirk."_

"_There's no guarantee that he is out there or even alive. You'll be wasting your time still searching for him."_

"_Then I will find someone who does know something, I just want to know," Dylan sounded like she was close to tears._

"_So, you will go to Luin alone?"_

"_Not alone. Cielo is bigger than Noishe now, I can ride him to Luin," Dylan said. _

"_You'll be leaving soon then?" Dirk asked._

"_I want to leave before Lloyd wakes up, otherwise I know he'll follow me."_

_Dirk sighed, "I won't stop you then, just-"_

"_Dylan! Don't go!" Lloyd cried out, no longer caring that he was supposed to be hiding, "Don't go without me!"_

"_Lloyd," Dylan said gently._

"_I'll be a better brother, I'll work harder at school, but please… please don't go without me again," Lloyd begged. _

"_Lloyd, I can't take your with me."_

"_You said when I was older," Lloyd argued._

"_When I said, 'when you're older' I was thinking more along the lines of eighteen years old," Dylan explained._

"_But-"_

"_I won't be gone as long this time Lloyd, I promise." Dylan tried to smile warmly at her brother who was already almost her height._

"_How long will you be gone?" Lloyd asked, his chocolate brown eyes gazing intensely into her own._

"_A few months," Dylan promised, "a year at most. I'm just going to ride Cielo to Luin, ask some questions, then come back. Okay?"_

_Lloyd nodded, "Only a few months."_

"_That's right." Dylan grinned, turning to Dirk, "I trust you and Noishe to continue watching him."_

"_Of course," Dirk nodded, "I made a promise to your mother, Dylan, I'm not about to go back on my word."_

_Dylan nodded once more, before leaving the house. She fetched her four-legged friend and bade Noishe a farewell before mounting Cielo. _

"_Remember," Lloyd called as she was about to ride off, "only a few months."_

_She smiled at him, waving before spurring Cielo into a gallop away from Dirk's house and Iselia._

Lloyd sighed, not even bothering to listen to Raine's latest lecture. _But,_ he thought sadly, _you never came back… _


	2. Chapter 1: To Triet

well, here's the second chapter... or technically the first. Anywho, it may move a bit fast, but I promise it'll slow down after this. I just had a hard time starting it up and all. I really hope you enjoy and review. I love reviews. Peace.

-Blackamber

* * *

A young woman with dark auburn hair and equally auburn colored eyes lay in the middle of a field near Iselia. Looking at the village, one would not guess that barely a mile from it was a Desian Human Ranch. Her eyes were closed and her breathing easy, she had nothing to fear being so close to the small village.

She wore a long, olive-green dress and tight black leggings that stopped just above her knee; the dress cut open along the sides of her legs to enhance mobility. The dress also had some symbols on them, embroidered in gold and black cloth. Beside her lay twin sheaths, one with the ancient symbols for honor and courage, the other with the symbols for loyalty and justice.

The hilts of the blades embedded in the sheaths also carried symbols, one with the symbol for truth and the other with the symbol for peace. The sheaths were attached to dark, leather belts that crossed along her abdomen when she wore them. Unlike most who carried twin swords, she did not carry them on either side of her waist nor in between her shoulder blades. Instead, she preferred them to be lying horizontal across her lower back, parallel to one another; one hilt facing to the right, the other to the left, making them easy to grab.

She opened one eye as she heard the steady footfalls of someone approaching her and smiled when she saw that it was her younger brother, wearing his wooden swords proudly.

"Hey Dyl! I bet I can beat you!" Lloyd yelled as he came to a stop beside her, drawing his twin wooden swords.

Dylan snorted at her little brother, "Not with that stance you won't." "Aww, c'mon Dyl! You're leaving tomorrow, can't we spar just once more," Lloyd begged, prodding her with his sword.

Dylan rolled her eyes, rising to her feet. "Sorry bro, not today. Raine and I have got a lot of preparing to do." She bent down to retrieve her weapons, strapping them on.

"Is that why you're hiding out here?" Lloyd teased, putting his swords away.

"You know how the 'Professor' can get," she grinned.

"She's really excited about seeing Sylvarant, isn't she?"

"So am I, I've never been outside of Iselia." That was a lie, though she barely remembered it, she was born in Luin and she remembered traveling with her parents before and after her baby brother was born.

"Why are you leaving?" Lloyd asked, finally mastering the courage to ask the very thing that he had been wondering since she had told Dirk what she was planning on doing.

"Lloyd, when you get older you'll probably feel the same way I am right now. You'll have a desire to see the world outside of Iselia and no matter how hard you fight it, you'll eventually have to give in. I've been fighting this urge until I was sure that you could take care of yourself," she explained.

"Yeah, but why take the professor with you?" Lloyd asked.

"It's no fun traveling alone." Dylan smiled at her brother's expression, "Come on, let's go back."

Lloyd nodded at his older sister and began ecstatically about what he had been doing all day. He then, without taking pausing, went into a story of what Collette had been doing before she had joined him and Genis.

"Oh, you really like her, huh?" teased Dylan.

"Yeah, she's cool," Lloyd said indifferently, completely missing what his sister meant by 'like'.

Dylan shook her head and rolled her eyes slightly. "Hey Lloyd… bet I can beat you back to the house," she challenged, breaking into a run.

"Not on your life!" Lloyd shouted, charging after her.

* * *

"Now, you're sure you don't want to take Noishe with you?" Dirk asked the following day, as Lloyd peered out the window of the dwarf's house.

"They're here!" he announced, letting Raine and Genis into the house.

"Yes, Dirk I'm sure," Dylan nodded before turning to her friend. "You all packed?"

Raine nodded, "Yes, I'm ready to leave when you are."

"Great, I'll just be a second longer."

"Dylan! I wanna come too!" Lloyd whined.

"I know you do, baby brother," she soothed, hugging him, "I want you to come too, but I need you to watch over Iselia for me. It's a very important job."

"Dylan," Dirk beckoned to her, "I've packed some things for you." The dwarf handed her her pack, "And I'd like you to have this." He placed a small sack of gil in her hand.

"Oh, Dirk, I can't accept this," Dylan said, about to hand the sack back.

Dirk shook his head, "While your traveling I won't be able to help you much, so I wish to give you some aid before you leave. Keep it, I've had some generous patrons lately."

"Thank you," Dylan bowed to him.

"Bye Dylan! Bye Professor!" Lloyd waved to them as Genis stood beside him, waving to his sister as well. "Kick some monster and Desian butt while you're gone!"

His sister had smiled back at him, waving as well.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" Raine asked, matching her warrior friend's pace quite easily.

"Don't tell me all that excitement was for nothing, Raine," Dylan teased, "besides, this could be our only chance to see Sylvarant."

Raine nodded, "You're right. I just wish I could wait until Genis was a little older."

"I know, but Dirk and Lloyd will take care of him. And we have that non-aggression treaty with the Iselia Ranch, so we know the Desians won't touch him."

Raine knew her friend was right, but that didn't stop her from worrying. "So, where are we traveling to?" she asked, using her staff as a kind of walking stick.

"Wherever our feet take us," Dylan grinned. She had her own purpose for really wanting to travel, something that she had wondered since she was little. What she had told Lloyd wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. She wanted to know who she was, and she wanted to know why their father left them. She wanted to find him and she figured traveling Sylvarant she was bound to hear something of him.

"Do you think we'll make it to Asgard!? Or even to Hima?" Raine asked excitedly, a certain spark alighting in her eyes, "Oh! Or even to Palmacosta and the Balacruf Mausoleum?"

Dylan couldn't help but laugh at her friend, "Sure, if you want." She wasn't called the 'Professor' for nothing after all.

"Think of all the places we'll see? All the history we'll uncover? We'll be walking along the same paths that people had centuries before us, can you believe it!?"

Dylan slowly shook her head, she was used to Raines' crazy obsession by now. She had first experienced it when they were younger and Raine had discovered a book from the Great War that she had never seen before.

"_How marvelous! Dylan, just look at the language they use here! I can't believe I'm actually reading this! I MUST TAKE NOTES AND ANALYZE EVERY DETAIL!"_

That was Dylan's edited version of what happened, for if she remembered every detail of that conversation, she would have reached the other side of Sylvarant before even being close to finishing it.

"Wow, we can't even see Iselia anymore," Raine commented, coming out of her excited, 'Professor' mode.

"Yeah, we should reach a House of Salvation before nightfall where we can sleep," Dylan commented, "if not, we'll just have to camp outdoors."

"JUST LIKE MULTIPLE HISTORICAL FIGURES HAVE DONE BEFORE US!" Raine announced with zeal.

"Sure," Dylan chuckled, "but I get to make dinner. No more of your experimentations."

"I wasn't that bad," Raine huffed.

"I think you killed a rat just with the smell of it," teased Dylan, breaking into a run as Raine chased her with staff in hand.

"I dare you to say that again Dylan!" Raine yelled, chasing her still laughing friend, "Dylan Irving! Get back here!"

Dylan froze as a woman's voice flashed through her mind.

"_-- --! Get back here this instant!"_

_What was that?_ She wondered as she felt the hard 'clunk' of the staff hitting her head. "OWW!"

"Make fun of my cooking again and it will be worse," Raine stated, continuing on ahead.

Dylan shook her head at her friend before following, nursing the bump on her head gently with her hand. "You're so mean sometimes, Raine."

Raine turned back to look at her human friend and stuck out her tongue. "Respect your elders," she stated, before turning away from her.

"You're older than my by what? One month? Two?" grumbled Dylan, "That's hardly an elder."

"I'm still older than you."

"I'm pretty sure whoever made up that rule meant it for the people who are like seventy plus."

"Well, now I'm including myself in that category."

"Have you been lying to me all this time about your age? I mean I know elves can live for a long time, but are really seventy years old?"

Raine chose not to answer this question as her friend caught up to her and peered at her.

"Ha! I think I can see wrinkles! You really are an old la-"

WHACK!

"Alright, alright I'll stop," Dylan winced, nursing a new bump, "owww."

Dylan stopped again, this time not for some crazy voice in her head. Her hands instinctively flew to the hilts of her swords as she balanced herself on the balls of her feet.

Raine had noticed the change in her friends' character and stopped as well. "What is it?"

"Not sure yet," Dylan responded, slowly drawing the blades out of their sheaths, "but I'm going to find out."

"Be careful."

"That's why I have you here," she grinned, "if I get hurt, you can heal me." Just as she was about to search the area, four thieves jumped out, surrounding them.

"Ohhh, you are pretty ones, aren't ya," one of them sneered, "perhaps we should have some fun with ya before we kill ya."

"Like hell, creep!" Dylan snarled, locking blades with the man, "Raine cover me."

"Right," Raine nodded, "Acuteness!"

Dylan parried a blow from one of the other thieves as she slid one of her swords free from the locked blades. She smirked at the man before jumping back, bringing him with her and slid her blade in between his rip cage, twisting it up so that it sliced the heart. With a kick, she sent his carcass flying overhead and into one of the other thieves; he was dead before he even hit the ground.

She rose back to her feet, attacking one of the other thieves. Behind her she could hear the familiar thwacks of Raine cracking skulls with her staff. The sound was so much more pleasant when she wasn't at the receiving end of those blows.

Dylan was forced to refocus on the fight she was currently in as she felt the sharp pain of a blade cutting her upper arm. She grimaced, locking one blade with the man who had taken advantage of her brief distraction and the other with the last thief who had hoped to take her out while she was fighting the other.

"I don't think so," she growled, twisting her blades so that they were no longer beneath her enemy's, but forcing them down.

Another crack filled the air, followed by the thudding sound of something hitting the earth; Dylan prayed it wasn't the last thief, fighting three at once would prove to be a little difficult. So imagine her relief when she heard another thwack as the oh so familiar staff came in contact with one of the thieves she was fighting, rendering him helpless on the ground.

The last thief took one look at his two unconscious comrades, and the one dead one, and considered his options.

"I suggest you run," Dylan growled in a deadly tone, "before I decide that I want to see you begging for mercy."

The man needed no encouragement; racing away as though he were being chased by Volt.

"First aid!"

Dylan jumped at the sensation of her friend healing the small cut on her arm. "Thanks," she panted. Never in her life had Dylan had to actually fight to kill someone and she rarely had to fight monsters around the village; this fight had been more trying than anything.

"I suppose we'll get used to this?" Raine asked, drinking from one of the water skins they had brought.

Dylan nodded, "Yeah. There's bound to be more of them, not to mention the monsters we'll run into."

Raine sighed, "Maybe we should have asked one other person to come with us. Someone with muscle or that can use magic."

"AKA a guy?" joked Dylan, "where's the fun in that? This is a girl's trip and I'll be damned if it's ruined by a bunch of guys." With a laugh, the two friends continued their trip.

* * *

"Why is there a desert… in the middle of this continent?" Dylan asked some days later when they came upon the Triet Desert.

"It's because it is said that it is in this desert where the seal of fire and the summon spirit Eefreet resides," Raine said, knowingly. Her eyes came alive at that moment, "Do you think we could visit the ruins!?"

"I think we should figure out where we are before we decide about where to go sightseeing."

"There's suppose to be an Oasis with a town somewhere," Raine said.

"Hmm, maybe we could sleep in a bed then tonight."

"And resupply."

"Eat a decent meal."

Raine sighed, "I wish we had a map."

"Maybe this, Oasis town will have one." Dylan scanned the horizon, looking for any possible sign of a town. "Are you sure there's a town in here? I can't seem to find any sign of intelligent life out here."

"Of course I'm sure! I read about it before!"

"Sorry, Professor, I just can't imagine anyone wanting to live in this blistering heat," Dylan said.

"I thought you didn't like calling me 'Professor'," Raine mentioned.

"I don't, it's just right then, you sounded a lot like my old Professor," grinned Dylan, about to take a sip from her water skin, only to find that it was empty. "Huh… well, you'd better hope we come across this Oasis town soon, 'cause we're running on empty here."

Raine checked her own water skin, "Same. Water will probably be expensive in the desert though."

"They have a whole Oasis full of water, they won't miss a water skin or two full," Dylan stated, "that is, if this place does exist."

"It does," Raine insisted, "I'll prove it to you!"

After a couple more hours of trudging through the desert and nearly collapsing from the heat and from exhaustion- having to fight monsters off as well- the two stumbled upon the much debated Oasis town of Triet.

"I told you it existed," Raine panted, leaning heavily on her staff.

"Oh shut up," Dylan grumbled, "now where is this water?"

They walked through the bustling desert streets towards the Oasis, not even noticing the group of men who looked strangely like Desians hovering around a notice board. One of them, however, cast a look in their direction, but then turned his attention back to the notice board.

Dylan splashed water on her face, savoring the feeling of the cool liquid running over her skin. With a satisfied sigh, she opened her water skin and dipped it into the water, filling it. No one seemed to mind this action, or if they did, they chose not to say anything.

"Here, pass me your skin, I'll fill it up too," Dylan offered, strapping her now full skin across her shoulder.

Raine had sunk down beside her, cupping her hands in the water and drinking deeply. She took her skin off her shoulder, passing it to her friend as she followed Dylan's example, splashing water onto her face as well.

"Where do you suppose we'll find a map?" Dylan asked.

"We can ask the street vendors, or even the hotel manager here," Raine suggested as Dylan handed her back her water skin.

Nodding, Dylan rose to her feet, dusting loose sand off of her clothing. This time, as they walked back into the market place of Triet, they noticed the 'Desians' hovering around the notice board. Dylan narrowed her eyes at them, fighting the urge to draw her swords and charge at them. If they weren't in a town, nothing would hold her back from doing so, but she didn't want to cause trouble for the townspeople.

"What are Desians doing all the way down here?" Raine asked in a hushed voice, "the only Ranch on this continent is the Iselia one."

"I dunno," Dylan shrugged, "maybe they built a new one nearby."

"Come on, Dyl, we don't want to cause trouble." Raine pulled her friend deeper into the market place and away from the notice board and Desian look-alikes. As soon as the 'Desians' were out of sight, Dylan relaxed and Raine let go of her arm, focusing on the wares of the vendors. She looked over some of the foods and gils that they were selling, asking questions about the quality and where they came from. She was so caught up, she failed to notice when Dylan walked off.

Dylan approached the weapon-smith of the town, pretending to browse his goods. "Tell me, have you ever come across a swordsman before?" she asked, calmly.

The seller chuckled at her question, "I've come across plenty of swordsmen. You need to be a little more specific."

"I'm looking for a swordsman playing the role of a mercenary. He has auburn hair and eyes," Dylan described, trying to remember specific details.

"Hmm, I may have seen him… what's the name?"

"I don't know his name," Dylan responded.

"Not his… yours." The merchant smiled toothily at her.

"That is none of your concern. Have you seen him or not?"

"I have, though it was a long time ago. He was traveling with a woman with chocolate brown hair and two children. A little girl and a baby boy," the merchant explained.

Dylan made a sound of disappointment. She didn't care about what happened before he disappeared, "Has he passed through here since?"

"Nope," came the simple answer, "you sure you don't want to tell me your name?"

"Pervert," Dylan growled, before walking away.

* * *

"Hmm, what do you think about these, Dyl?" Raine asked, turning around where she expected her friend to be. If this were an anime, there would be an empty dotted line outlining where Dylan once stood and possibly an arrow pointing down to it labeling said person. But this is not an anime, so there was no such dotted line or arrow, just a _very_ annoyed Raine looking like she was about to whack a certain Irving on the head with her staff again.

* * *

Dylan soon found herself by the notice board again, where the 'Desians' still were. She made no comment to them, just lend against a lean-to stable outside of the hotel. So, if anyone asked, it was not her fault when one of the Desians approached her.

"Those are some pretty nice swords you got there," he commented, "haven't seen dwarven blacksmith work in a while. So, where'd you get them?"

Dylan raised an eyebrow at the Desian, fighting the urge to ask, 'Why don't you just take them?' Instead, she civilly -or as civilly as she could- answered, "I was practically raised by a dwarf, he made them for me."

"So where are you from then?"

"Iselia. You know, the town with the non-aggression treaty with _you_ guys."

"With us?" the Desian questioned, "why would you have a non-aggression treaty with us?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Dylan growled and muttered under her breath, "Desian scum."

"What did you call me!?" the Desian demanded.

"You want me to repeat myself?" taunted Dylan, "De-si-an sc-um." She sounded out each part slowly as though teaching a young child how to say the word.

The Desian let out a bitter snarl, retrieving a whip from his belt, "I'll give you a lesson in respect you inferior being!"

"Bring it," Dylan grinned, drawing her blades.

"What's going on here?" an authoritative voice demanded.

"Lord Yuan, she-"

"Dylan! What are you doing!?" Raine demanded, marching towards her friend, "I'm really sorry, she tends not to think things through." The silver haired 'elf' forced an apologetic smile at both Desians before dragging Dylan into the hotel. "I swear you are like a little kid! I take my eyes off you for a second and you go and pick a fight with a Desian."

"He picked a fight with me," Dylan stated, "_he_ came up to _me_."

"That's besides the point! Why'd you walk away anyway?"

"I had my own business to attend to," Dylan explained.

"Did you at least pick up a map?"

"Sorry, it kinda slipped my mind." Dylan uneasily scratched the back of her head.

Raine sighed, "What am I going to do with you?"

* * *

"Lord Yuan, should we pursue them?" another 'Desian' asked, after Raine had dragged Dylan away.

"There was no harm done, I don't see the point of it," Yuan, dressed the same as the rest of his men, "I highly doubt we'll come across them again. We'll return to the base and plan our next move against Cruxis."

"Yes sir!" the 'Desians' saluted, hastily leaving Triet.

Yuan cast a quick glance towards the hotel's closed door, _That girl… she was a… and the other… how strange…_


	3. Chapter 2: Experiment

This one was a lot of fun. I'm sorry it took longer than the others to write though, so much happens. Also, anyone who has ever heard an Irish Tin Whistle will understand what I mean by haunting sound. Those things can sound really eerie, depending on how it's played. Anywho, please enjoy and review.

-Blackamber

* * *

Dylan sat on the roof of the hotel in Triet, playing a flute that she kept on her. It wasn't like a traditional flute, one that to produce a sound you had to blow over the mouthpiece and hold out to the side. No, her flute you blew into a mouthpiece like a whistle, with the body of it angled in front of you.

The flute had an eerie, almost haunting sound to it. In fact, were spirits able to play instruments, there was no doubt that this flute would be the instrument they'd play. The notes quivered in the air, fading slowly as the tune progressed. People who could not see the source of the haunting sounds shuddered in slight fear, superstition affecting their thoughts.

"Hey Dylan!" Raine called up to her friend as she spotted her perched on the rooftop.

Dylan made no reply, continuing her song.

"DYLAN!" Raine called louder.

Dylan would have sighed if the action would not effectively ruin her song, so she settled for giving a slight nod, signaling that she could hear her.

"I found a map! We can head off soon!" Raine said, emphasizing her point by waving the piece of paper and showing off how quickly she had packed up.

Dylan rolled her eyes, knowing that should she keep Raine waiting _too_ long the elf would come up to the roof and drag her down herself. So, she brought her tune to a simple yet impressionable conclusion before stowing the flute away once more.

Grabbing her pack from beside her, she gracefully hoped down from the rooftop like a jaguar from the branch of a tree. "Where to then, oh map master?" Dylan asked.

"Well, if we head to Ossa Trail, we can make camp about halfway through then successfully reach Izoold by tomorrow night," Raine stated, mapping out their route.

"Huh… I think it'll take a little longer than that," Dylan mused, "if we make good time we may just make it to Izoold a couple of hours after dark, but I don't want to be traveling with monsters about in the dark. No matter how we map it, it'll be at least the following day that we'll reach Izoold."

"Oh… so where do we go from there?" Raine asked, "do we leave Izoold immediately or…?"

"No, we'll spend the night there. I want a full day of sailing, not going on through the night," Dylan grinned.

"That's right! We get to ride a boat! I've never been on one before! This is so exciting!" Raine exclaimed, folding up their map and putting it away.

Dylan smiled; she always enjoyed witnessing her friend's excitement. Moving out of the desert town, the two made their way towards the distant Ossa Trail, getting a full days walk, stopping only to eat lunch and to catch their breaths in the heat. Dylan paused before leaving their most recent break spot, thinking she had seen some sort of building behind one of the towering cliffs that were the scattered mountains in the desert. She shook her head; perhaps it was just the heat getting to her.

The reached the entrance to Ossa Trail by sundown, pitching a campsite right before the sloping mouth that wove through the cliffs.

As Raine stoked the fire, Dylan got to work on cooking their dinner. "You know, I can help with that," offered Raine.

"No, no. You're doing a great job with the fire," Dylan said, not letting Raine anywhere near what she was making.

"I'm not _that_ bad. Let me help you," insisted Raine.

"You are! Just keep the fire going," argued Dylan, stirring their stew.

"I think you need more herbs."

"No, it's fine. Stew doesn't require a lot of flavoring with herbs, the contents flavor it enough."

"Are you sure? There's a lot of sweet grass here."

"If you were to put herbs in stew sweet grass is the last thing to use."

"Why? It's an herb right?"

"It is… but not a good one for stews."

"I didn't know there was a difference."

"And that's _why_ you are not touching the stew."

Raine grumbled something under her breath, throwing another stick into the fire. "I could cook if I wanted to," she mumbled.

"Yeah, I bet you could," Dylan admitted, "but I doubt it would be edible."

Raine narrowed her eyes, chucking a pinecone at her friend's head. "Hey, Dylan, heads up!" she called _after _the pinecone hit her.

"Oww! What was that for?" Dylan demanded.

Raine looked at her innocently, "What? I told you heads up."

Dylan growled, picking up the pinecone and chucking it back at her.

After they had eaten their fill, Dylan offered to keep watch for monsters and thieves for half the night, and wake Raine up for her watch. As she sat in the silence, her mind began to wander.

"_Daddy! Daddy!" a young Dylan called, racing towards an auburn haired man._

_The man turned to his daughter, smiling warmly. "There's my girl," he murmured, lifting her up into his arms. _

"_I missed you daddy, why'd ya hafta go?" she asked, burying her face into her father's shoulder._

"_I'm a mercenary --, and sometimes that means I have to go away for my job," he explained._

"_Yeah, but why? Why can't cha just take jobs here?"_

"_There aren't many jobs here any more, I have to take the jobs that are farther away. I don't like it either --, but I have to do it."_

"_One day, I'll get ta go wif daddy right? I get ta help, right?" Dylan grinned at her father, her eyes shining hopefully._

"_Maybe." The man made no promises; he knew full well how his wife felt about her joining him in his mercenary work. _

"_Not maybe," pouted Dylan, "I wanna help!"_

_The man chuckled, kissing his daughter's hair, "We'll see, okay?" He placed her back on the ground, allowing her to take his hand. _

"_O-kay," his daughter huffed, not really buying it. _

"_--! It's time for bed!" a woman's voice called._

Dylan shook her head, releasing herself from her thoughts. _That voice… must belong to my mother._ In her memories, Dylan never recalled her mother, only her father. Just like she never recalled her real name. She knew Dylan wasn't her real name, for if it was, instead of blanks in her mind, she would actually hear them call her 'Dylan'.

_Dad,_ she cast her gaze towards the starry sky, _where are you? Why'd you leave us? Did you… do you really not care about Lloyd and I?_

Dylan heard Raine groan in her sleep and roll over, making her feel a sudden wave of fatigue. She fought a yawn, tearing her gaze from the sky to the surrounding landscape. She fiddled with her pack, drawing out her flute; she knew the sound wouldn't bother Raine when she was asleep; Raine could sleep through almost anything.

Pressing the mouthpiece in between her lips, she began playing a new tune; it really was much too quiet. The haunting sound filled the area; carrying itself on the wind a good few miles were it rested, hovering until it faded into nothing. The sound was comforting for Dylan, she played her flute many times as a soothing method to a young Lloyd and even as they grew older, Lloyd enjoyed just sitting and listening to her play.

She remembered one night he begged her to show him how to play, and she had tried. The keyword was tried. It wasn't that Lloyd couldn't get a sound out of the instrument, it was that he got _too_ much sound out of it- meaning he created a lot of noise and not enough music. After that, she decided he should focus more on his schoolwork and less on the flute; traveling minstrel was definitely not a career option.

Dylan kind of hoped that Dirk would nag him about his schoolwork as much as she did; he had a bad habit of slacking off when someone wasn't on his ass all the time about doing it. She rolled her eyes, fading into a new tune as she thought of Iselia. She didn't exactly miss the village, saying that she did would be pushing it; she missed certain people, namely her brother, Dirk, Genis, Collette and her family. The rest of the village didn't matter much to her.

Her home was in Luin; the home she was born in, that she remembered, was in Luin. Iselia had her protection only for her brother's sake, for he was born while they were traveling to find a new home, away from Luin. She never understood why they left; perhaps she would add that on her list of 'things to ask dad when/if we meet'.

She heard Raine groan again and ceased her playing, her gaze traveling upwards again; a pained expression crossed her face as she receded into her earlier thoughts. _Dad… _

In her mind she could see his smiling face as he picked her up. She could hear his deep, familiar voice chasing away her fears and almost feel his soothing embrace as he held her when she was upset or had injured herself. She brought her knees up against her chest, hugging herself as though to relish the feeling.

_Why…?_

* * *

"You should have woken me up earlier," Raine grumbled after being shaken awake for her shift, "you look awful."

"And you looked peaceful, besides I didn't mind the extra hour." Dylan shrugged, removing her swords and lying down on a patch of dirt. "Night."

Raine nodded to her friend, listening to her steady breathing as the warrior drifted into a deep sleep. Unlike her, Dylan did not sleep as heavily. If the slightest twig were to snap, Dylan would be awake in seconds with swords in hand. It made Raine wonder why they even bothered with the whole shift thing.

The first night they had camped out, Raine had witnessed first hand Dylan's reaction time to strange sounds when she had kept first watch. She had thought Dylan was sleeping deeply, and so had risen to stretch her legs with a quick walk around the perimeter of the campsite. Upon returning, Raine had kicked a rock that landed in a patch of bushes not too far from the campsite and- for lack of a better statement- had the crap scared out of her when Dylan had shot up with her swords poised and ready.

Raine shook her head, looking back towards her friend and stifling a yawn. For someone so alert, she sure looked peaceful while asleep.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the floating land **(A/N- I didn't know what else to call it)** of Derris Kharlan, a certain auburn haired angel entered his 'living' quarters- if one wanted to call what they were doing living. He slumped into an elegant looking chair and removed a small locket from around his neck. His auburn eyes filled with pain as he gazed at the picture embedded within.

There was him, no difference in appearance from when the picture was taken, a smiling little girl, with auburn hair and eyes, of about seven clinging to him, a woman with chocolate brown hair and eyes holding a new born. It was a family picture from six years ago; a reminder of what he once had.

His rough, calloused fingers grazed the portrait gently, unable to deter his gaze. "Oh, Anna," he breathed, as though the woman in the portrait could hear him, "I'm sorry. I should have… done a better job of protecting you. You, Lloyd and…" the final name died in his throat. It was bad enough that he had to kill his wife and let his son die, thanks to the Desians, but his daughter, that was his fault.

He always told her to protect her brother and mother when he was away; he never thought she'd actually act on his words. It was one thing to protect her brother when they were playing outside and some strange creature approaches them, but to actually challenge the Desians and even stand between her mother and little brother was another.

It was his fault that she reacted that way, his encouragement to her stubborn, fighting spirit. And now… now they were all gone.

He sighed closing the locket and running a gloved hand through his messy auburn hair. As the locket gave audible click signaling its shutting, the angel shut his eyes. His mind left his daughter and was succumbed to thoughts of his wife instead. If he really tried, he could almost feel her near him; hear her voice, even smell her sweet scent.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud banging against the door to his room and he quickly secured the locket around his neck before answering it. "Yggdrasil, can I help you?" he asked, after opening the door.

"Kratos," the blonde angel nodded, "I was just curious if you have seen Yuan at all?"

"I'm afraid not," Kratos responded, realizing that it had been a good week since he had last since said person.

Yggdrasil's eyes narrowed as he muttered to himself, "He should have been back by now, what's keeping him?" He turned his attention back to his former comrade. "Kratos," he said in an authoritative voice, "I want you to go to Sylvarant and retrieve Yuan."

Kratos nodded, watching as Yggdrasil walked off. He sighed, heading to on of the warp portals that would take him down to the Tower of Salvation in Tethe'alla; from there he'd have to borrow a rehaird to transport himself back to Sylvarant. It was going to be a _long _trip.

* * *

"Morning," Dylan greeted Raine with a yawn, stretching her arms skyward.

Raine made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a yawn as a hello.

"What are you doing?" Dylan asked.

"Proving that I can cook," responded Raine, "so I'm making breakfast."

Dylan blanched in color. "You know… I'm not that hungry, so why don't you eat and then we can go, huh?"

"Don't be a baby and eat your breakfast," Raine ordered, handing her what kinda resembled food, but not really.

Dylan stared at the concoction blankly. "What is it?"

"Eggs."

"Of what?"

"Bird eggs, I bought them while we were in Triet."

"Is there anything else but egg in here?"

"Yes, I put onions, peppers, mushrooms, and squid in there."

"Squid?"

"I thought it would be different."

"It's different alright," Dylan mumbled.

"Well, aren't you going to eat?"

"You eat first."

"Why?"

"I don't want to die."

Raine rolled her eyes, taking a bite out of the breakfast she made. "See it's not bad." It took all of Raine's willpower not to scrunch her face in disgust.

Dylan dug her fork into the blob that Raine claimed was food, "Is this even cooked all the way through?"

"Just eat it!"

Dylan slowly lifted the fork to her mouth, squeezing her eyes shut as she brought the 'food' closer and closer to her lips.

"Oh for the love of- It's not _that_ bad!"

"If I die from this, you get nothing!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Dylan forced the fork into her mouth, swallowing the gunk as quickly as possible. "Uhh, you didn't cook it long enough… and the squid… uhhh," Dylan shuddered.

"Baby," Raine muttered as she forced herself to take another bite, pretending as though there was nothing wrong with it. "If this is how you're going to react with every meal I make I might as well just give up and let you do all the cooking."

"Really!?" Dylan asked in excitement, "no more of your cooking experiments or… or… this?" She pointed to the stuff on her plate, then froze. "I think my breakfast just moved on it's own."

"You're imagining things."

"No, I swear this stuff moved on its own."

"You probably shook the plate accidentally and-"

"IT'S ALIVE!" Dylan yelled, flinging the supposed food into the fire, effectively ridding herself of the horrid goo.

"YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" Raine shrieked.

"No, it was really alive. I saw a tentacle twitch and everything. I was saving myself from an internal attack from a zombie squid, I suggest you do likewise," Dylan said.

Raine sighed in exasperation; her friend really could be quite childish at times. "You're hopeless."

"So, are you actually going to finish that?" Dylan asked, beginning to clean up the campsite.

Raine sighed once more, before also dumping her plate into the fire. "C'mon Dyl, we have a lot of ground to cover today."

Dylan smiled at Raine, shouldering her pack. The two set off along Ossa trail, walking in silence until, "You know I wasn't joking, that stuff was really alive."

"Dylan…"


	4. Chapter 3: Why Dylan Should Never Sail

Can it be? Have I actually... updated? Yes it is true folks, I have finally gotten off my arse and written a new chapter. To be fair, the past year (years?) have been really hectic for me and I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. I meant for this to be out about 2 months ago, but school and work go in the way so you are getting it now. It's a christmas miracle!

Thank you all so much for being so patient with me, I promise the next chapter won't take nearly as long to write. Also, I would like opinions on the final part... I felt it ran a little long but also might have been necessary. Not a hundred percent sure... I think you'll know when you read it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Dylan led the way as they left Ossa Trail, and all of its monsters, behind them. As annoying as all the fighting was, not to mention how time consuming it was as well, they managed to make a fair amount of gald.

A random family of travelers stood between the friends, having picked up the poor group half way through; which slowed them down even further. They had left Ossa Trail a day later than planned.

"Well at least we'll reach Izoold before dark," Raine called up to her friend, knowing the warrior was most likely in a slightly bitter mood due to the delays.

"We can't thank you enough for all of your help," the father of the family said gratefully, "if there is anything we can do to repay you-"

"It's fine," said Dylan, "we were heading to Izoold anyways." She was making a b-line for the coast; she didn't mind helping the family at first, but then they proved to be the most incompetent travelers she had ever met, which just resulted in her preventing them from talking as much as possible.

"Do you live in Izoold also? We've never seen you before," the mother asked, holding her young son's hand to prevent him from running off in a random direction. Something Dylan and Raine were both grateful for. Time consumer number… whatever: little boy running off like an idiot while cackling evilly, forcing the parents, Raine, and Dylan to have to chase him and stop monsters from devouring him.

"No, we're from Iselia; we're just exploring Sylvarant," explained Raine, sensing how irritable Dylan was at the moment –especially since the bratty daughter was constantly tugging at her arm and dress while asking questions.

"Oh, so you'll need a boat once you reach Izoold to get to Palmacosta." It wasn't a question, it was a simple statement –after all, the only way to get to Palmacosta was through Izoold.

"We were just planning on renting one."

"Well, you're in luck. My husband is a fisherman," the mother smiled.

_Oh gods no_, Dylan thought.

"Of course! I could take you across to Palmacosta, free of charge," agreed the father, "just let me know when you want to leave."

"One condition," said Dylan, pulling her arm out of the daughter's grasp and facing the family, a serious expression etched onto her features. She paused, leaving Raine to wonder if she was waiting for something or if she was honestly doing it just for dramatic effect.

"What is it?" both the mother and father asked.

An almost sadistic smile pulled at her lips, "I get to drive the boat."

* * *

Raine should have known better. She had grown up with Dylan, had gotten pulled into many misadventures by her. Surely she should have known better than to trust Dylan with the complex task of steering a boat across the ocean. But she gave her friend the benefit of the doubt, she didn't argue when her friend made her request; the family was more than happy to comply, but of course they didn't know Dylan. She did. And still she agreed.

So really, she had no one to blame but herself. That didn't stop her from sending death looks and glares to her companion as soon as they reached the docks of Palmacosta, two days after leaving Izoold.

Dylan was oblivious to Raine's looks however; her eyes were focused on the surrounding market. In fact, it wasn't until she felt the familiar thwack against the back of her skull that she became aware of how angered her elven friend was. "Owwww, what was that for!" demanded she, rubbing the back of her head.

"You purposely sailed into that storm!" screeched Raine.

"Did not!"

"You did so! I heard the captain pointing out the storm and telling you to avoid it, and what do you do? Steer straight towards it!"

"It was the wind, I had nothing to do with it," Dylan huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "Besides, we're alright now, no harm, no foul."

"The boat almost capsized," Raine growled, "I don't think I'll ever be able to go into a boat again because of you."

"Told you, not my fault, completely the winds' fault. And isn't that a little overdramatic?"

Raine glared at her, causing the older Irving sibling to raise her hands up in mock defense. "Alright, alright… I might have steered slightly in the direction of the storm… but I swear the rest was the wind."

And what a storm it was. The swells that hit the boat were the size of tiny mountains, and held all the force of an avalanche. There were many moments when the boat would creak and wood would strain from the battering wind and water, threatening to spring leaks or break a part completely. The gale force winds almost blew half of the crew off the deck, the sails had to be taken down out a fear of them being torn or blown away. The rain was bitterly cold, and the wind was no warmer; skin stinging and turning red from contact.

Raine had every right to be angry, despite it partially being her fault.

"How about this, I promise to never drive a boat again," Dylan offered, hating it when her friend was mad at her.

"As glad as I am that you are taking into consideration the innocent lives of all the fishermen and other sailors out there, that's not going to convince me to get in a boat ever again."

"How are you going to get home then?"

Raine paused; she didn't have a response ready for that question. "I'll find a way."

"What? Are you going to just sprout wings and fly?" Dylan started laughing at the idea of Raine with wings flying across Sylvarant.

"I'll swim."

"From Palmacosta to Izoold? That's a long way to swim…"

The more Raine thought about it, the less of a good idea it seemed, not simply because of the distance, but because of how much more dangerous it would be. She'd be more likely to drown swimming than going back into a boat with Dylan, which was already a life-threatening feat.

"Anyways, while we're here we should restock… we lost most of our supplies in the storm." Dylan pulled out the pouch of gald Dirk had given her, which was stowed away safely in the cabin –along with her swords and flute- during the storm. Their supplies had been in a bag with Raine, who had forgotten to take it off when "all hands" were called on deck to help out during the storm.

And as they began looking at food, weapons, and gels, Raine's anger had dissipated and she was once again laughing with her friend as they looked at the wares of Palmacosta.

"The fish here will be really fresh, we should pick some up," Raine suggested as Dylan paid for a few lemon and apple gels.

"You're not planning on making anymore fish omelets are you?" teased Dylan as they wandered over to the fish cart.

"I already promised I wouldn't cook anymore, so no. I just thought fish might be a nice change from bread and vegetables. And it might be a little cheaper than getting some further inland."

It was pretty sound logic, as long as they didn't buy too much fish. With the amount of traveling they were doing it would be hard to keep fresh so they merely bought enough meat and fish that would most likely last until the next town. The last thing they needed was the food to spoil and for them to get sick thus delaying their trip even further.

They spent the rest of the day in Palmacosta, splitting up at the inn to explore the town separately and agreeing to meet back at their rooms either at sundown or whenever they got tired. Dylan stuck to her usual regime, asking people on the street about an auburn haired mercenary. With Raine off doing whatever, she was free to not worry about her friend overhearing and begin questioning her about said mercenary. When none of the townspeople could answer her request, she made her way back to the docks, intending to speak with the weapons dealer.

He was an older man, older than the weapons dealer of the Oasis. He looked on her with kind eyes that told her he was already aware that she wasn't there to purchase a new weapon. She smiled at him and he returned the smile quite cheerfully, in a manner similar to that of an old man smiling in response to his granddaughter.

"You are looking for someone?" he stated, though with a questioning air, leaving open the option that she may, in fact, be looking for something else entirely.

Dylan nodded, hoping that this man might actually be able to tell her something about her father. "I'm looking for a mercenary. A man with auburn hair and eyes, has he ever passed through here?"

"Your father," he guessed, noting that her appearance was identical to her description.

"Yes," she half whispered, realizing that by now he father's hair might not be auburn anymore, or if it was, it probably was sporting many streaks of grey.

"I used to see a man of that description many times a long time ago, at one point he even had a family with him- I'm guessing you were the little girl who kept trying to run out to where the boats were," chuckled the man with a knowing look.

Dylan couldn't help but smile; that certainly sounded like her. She could almost picture her mother chasing her down the docks trying to catch her before she fell into the rocking ocean below.

"I saw him a couple of years ago as well… he was just passing through and didn't stop to buy or browse my wares as he usually did. I'm guessing something happened between him and the misses then?" The old vendor was hopeful in his question, hoping it was a dispute over death, though judging from how they seemed when he had seen the family part of him did doubt that he had left his wife.

Dylan shook her head, "My mom died when I was still little, and my dad disappeared. I just want to know if he's still alive and why he left, that's all."

Her words puzzled the man, for in all the years he had received patronage from the mercenary, he didn't seem like the type to duck out on people he obviously cared about. And, truthfully, the vendor had known him for many, many years. So many that it still baffled him how the man never seemed to age, though he did not bring up this face with the young woman before him.

"Well, it's been about four years since I last saw him, chances are he's probably still out there," said the man, "I'm sure if you keep searching you'll find him." His words were kind, giving her the hope she still craved.

She uttered her thanks and offered him a few gald for his information, which he refused saying that her father had given him enough business to pay for any information she required on her journey. She left the docks, content in knowing that he had, at least, been spotted after her mothers' death. Of course he hadn't been spotted since, but that could just simply mean he hadn't needed to go back over to Iselia or Izoold. Which also meant that if she were to find him, it would most likely be on this continent.

* * *

Kratos was dreaming, he knew that much. It was the only way she could be here with him at this time. He wasn't asleep though, he had simply decided to take a break from his searching and relish one of the worlds he had left behind for once. And Anna was here with him. In his mind he was on Sylvarant, not Teth'alla, with her, somewhere between Asgard and Palmacosta; it seemed so long ago that he could no longer remember the exact location. How many years had it been? He lost count –he often determined the passing of time by how many of the Chosens have died. He briefly wondered if they were still alive, or had too much time passed and were now sharing the same fate as their mother. He let the thought fade, allowing himself to remember. Remember what had happened that day, to remember her.

"_Well you need to eat something,"_ _she scolded him, forcing a sandwich she had just finished making into his hand._

"_Anna you know I don't-"_

"_You're setting a poor example," she spoke through clenched teeth, her eyes briefly darting to their six year old, who was beginning to pick at her food rather than eat it –much like she often saw her father do._

_He sighed, "Just tell her that you need it more than I do or that I will be eating later." It wasn't completely false, with her expecting their next child she really would need to keep her strength up more than he did. _

_His wife wasn't buying it though, her expression made that perfectly clear. "Eat it."_

_He was about to argue again, but knowing what he was about to say, Anna had a response ready._

"_Either you eat it, or you have to explain why she has to eat and you don't. And you're not using me, or the baby, as a scapegoat."_

_He sighed once more, a sigh that his wife recognized to be his 'I give up' sigh. Waiting until their daughter was watching, he took a tentative bite and forced himself to swallow it. It had nothing to do with his wife's cooking, rather after becoming an angel food had lost all flavour to him. In fact, the taste of food almost revolted him now, leaving a taste similar to ash in his mouth. But he swallowed and took another bite, all in an effort to encourage a young girl, with a stubbornness to rival her mother, to eat. _

_Almost instantly, the child began to wolf down her sandwich and he became more aware of why his wife was so demanding of him eating all of a sudden. He would often slip away during the meals, so that there would be no question as to why he wasn't eating –but he couldn't escape all the time. Somehow, even with his "warrior senses" as Anna called it, he had missed that his daughter was, unknowingly starving herself; most likely doing so in attempt to be more like her father. She probably didn't understand the purpose of it, even when she'd begin to feel the affects of malnourishment upon her; telling herself that if her father did then she must also._

_Clearly happy to see her eating, Anna cheerfully began to nibble away at her sandwich for a bit before whispering to Kratos, "You can slip off if you want and give the rest to Noishe, I think she'll be fine now."_

_He smiled lightly at her, but kept eating, if he focused hard enough on what he remembered the ingredients tasted like he could distract himself from the unpleasant ash taste. "Naz," he beckoned, his daughter immediately lifting her head up at her father's voice, "once your finished you can go play with Noishe a bit, just don't wander alright."_

_His daughter smiled vehemently, and stuffed the rest of her sandwich into her mouth. "'Kay," she forced out, running off to where Noishe was dozing while still chewing the remnants of her sandwich. She vaguely heard her mother beckoning her about not talking, or maybe running, with her mouth full but it didn't stop her. _

_Kratos chuckled lightly at her exuberance before noticing the disapproving look Anna was giving him. "What?" he asked innocently._

"_You knew she was going to do that," accused she, "and there are still monsters about."_

"_Noishe will look after her." He placed the remnants his sandwich on the ground beside him and shuffled closer to her. He knew it wasn't actually the monsters that was worrying her, but a greater threat that they had been running from for many years. "They won't find us here," he assured her, placing a hand over hers._

"_That's what you said about Luin."_

"_I made a mistake thinking that just because a year had passed we could hide in your home village, even if we got six years out of it."_

"_You also said the same thing about Hima and Asgard. I suppose when they chase us from here, you'll say 'they won't find us here' in Palmacosta too." Her voice was panicked and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. The constant fear of being found, let alone captured, was taking its toll on her. _

"_I promise you Anna, we will find somewhere where they can't reach us. Where you, Naz, our son and I can live without having to constantly look over our shoulders. I _promise_ you."_ _He gently caressed her stomach as he spoke. _

_Anna sniffed, wiping the un-fallen tears from her eyes. "What makes you so sure it's a boy?"_

"_Well, I guessed Naz right didn't I?" he responded smugly, earning a gentle punch on his shoulder from his beloved. _

"_It would be nice, to have a boy and a girl wouldn't it," she said absentmindedly._

"_What are you really thinking about?" he knowingly asked._

_Anna hesitated; in his mind Kratos could count to ten before she inhaled, signaling that she was about to respond._

"_I don't want to go back there," her voice was shaking, "but no matter the horrors I faced in there, I would revisit them in a heartbeat if it meant they would never know them."_

"_Anna?" His tone was questioning, the meaning behind her words lost to him._

_She looked him dead in the eye, her fear filled –yet still defiant and hopeful- brown eyes boring into his steady auburn ones. "If they catch us-"_

"_I already told you-"_

"If_ they catch us… I want to always think of them first. Naz and our son. Even if they have me captive, if they aren't safe I don't want you to come for me."_

"_Anna-"_

"_I could never live with myself if they ended up in a ranch. So you have to promise me."_

"_I can't do that."_

"_Yes you can, it's not that hard."_

"Yes it is…" the same words left his mouth as they had so many years ago. Kratos ran a gloved hand through his hair, her presence leaving him in an instant. He rose up from the grass, and a with a few flaps of his wings he continued on his intended route to the Teth'alla capital.

* * *

Yes... you finally heard her nickname from her parents. Naz is her nickname... but can you guess what her real name is just from those three letters. A hint: her name is only six letters long and "Naz" is the first three. In the next chapter, our dynamic duo shall be leaving Palmacosta with high hopes, but what awaits them a new town? or is it just time for some traveling fun between the two. Personally, I think we are well overdue for the latter.

See you next time,

blackamber


	5. Chapter 4: Truth and Peace

It was a bit of a sad affair, leaving Palmacosta behind. Both friends had been quite happy with what they had gathered from the largest city on Sylvarant and the innkeepers had been very interesting people to talk with. Really, they could have stayed an extra few days, as Raine had pointed out to her friend, but Dylan had been adamant about pressing on. It was at that point that the "elf" had really begun to question the reasoning behind her friend's decision to go on this journey. She had suspicions that there was a specific reason back in Triet, when Dylan had passed up the chance to hunt out the ruins where Eefreet supposedly was sealed away in, but had written it off that since they lived on the same continent they could always go back.

Refusing to stay in Palmacosta, even just for one extra day, was really suspicious though, and she could find no other reason other than that Dylan had a different agenda than she; that her journey wasn't just to see Sylvarant. Raine really wanted to ask what her friend was actually doing, what was her purpose for traveling Sylvarant if she wasn't going to enjoy the sights. But she didn't, she respected her friend's privacy and trusted that when the time came she would be clued in. That didn't, however, stop her from making up her own assumptions. Such as: running as far away from Iselia as humanly possible. While it wasn't a good assumption, she did have some reasoning behind believing it to be a possible reason, she knew how much Dylan _hated_ Iselia.

Sure Dyl tried to hide it, playing it off that something else was bothering her whenever she accidentally let her mask slip. The people of Iselia just irked her. Well most of them did. Raine, Genis, Collette, Frank, and Phaidra were the exception. It bothered Dylan how readily they would ignore what the Desians were doing barely a mile away from their village just because they had a "none aggression treaty" with them. And in a way, Raine agreed with her. She could not support a village that was so ready to condemn others just so that they could, selfishly, protect themselves.

"Hey you in there?"

Raine was snapped out of her thoughts as her friend waved her hand in front of her face. "I'm sorry, what?"

"So I have been talking to myself for the past hour," Dylan joked, "I was getting worried when you didn't say anything about the Thoda Geyser."

"What about the Thoda Geyser?"

"I was asking if you wanted to go see it. I was expecting you to go off like the fountain of information you are. Anyways we should be reaching the Thoda Dock in about a day or two so I thought I'd check to-"

"No thanks," Raine answered, the thought of going back onto the open sea making her turn pale. She had never told Dylan about her fear of open water, and had played up her excitement about going sailing so that she would not suspect anything. She knew Dylan well enough to know that if she knew she was afraid of water, she would, in the efforts of trying to be a good friend, agree to just travel around their home continent. Even if it wasn't what she wanted. "I don't think I'm ready to go sailing with you again," she added a teasing note, earning a look from her human friend.

"I'm not going to ask again, so if you complain on the way home about not visiting the geyser just remember I gave you the option," stated Dylan with a slight huff.

"I make no promises," Raine giggled, which Dylan waved off while muttering 'Yeah, you'll probably complain anyways and find some way to blame me.'

The two broke down into a fit of laughter; there was no denying the truth behind Dylan's words –well in Raine's mind if it had been anything except the Thoda Geyser. That's not saying she wouldn't mind seeing it someday, just that she wouldn't mind seeing it once someone developed a way to reach it aside from sailing. There laughter was cut short, however, when a pack of monsters jumped out at them, the first time they had ever, really, got caught off guard.

It was a mixed group of monsters, monsters neither of them had come in contact with before. There was a plant monster called a Marcroid, a Wyvern, and two Giant Beetles. Dylan wasn't as concerned with the plant and bugs as she was with the dragon. Somehow, on the scale of how dangerous a monster could be, she imagined dragon trumped plant and bug, so she did her best to make short work of the Wyvern, hoping that Raine could keep the other monsters at bay.

Raine used her staff to beat the bugs back, hoping to catch them in a weak spot and successfully crush them. She knew she couldn't rely on Dylan for this fight; after all, fighting monsters was completely different to fighting bandits. Monsters were less predictable and were harder to fight two-to-three on one. Especially big monsters. The Marcroid seemed less interested in her than the bugs, and focused on helping the Wyvern against Dylan. That was a problem. She wasn't skilled enough to bring a person back from the grave.

"Stupid bugs," she spat, hitting them back once more. The tenth hit was the charm as one of the bugs dropped dead under her assault, which meant the other one would be soon to follow.

Dylan jumped back from the Wyvern's attack, dodging the Marcroid's poison in the process. The Wyvern swept its tail towards Dylan just as she was steadying herself for another attack, hitting her dead on and causing her to fly backwards. She landed hard on her back and skidded across the ground, rocks and thistles scraping her back and tearing her dress.

She flipped back to her feet, giving her head a gentle shake to clear any fuzziness. She raised her swords up, defending herself from an attack from the Marcroid and decided her best option might be finishing the evil-mushroom-of-doom, as she began to refer to it as, before going after the dragon. She slashed at the plant monster, effectively cutting off part of its, she assumed, arm.

Clearly angered by losing body parts, if you could even call them that, the plant retaliated by charging the warrior. It was an easy attack to dodge, which left the plant open for a fatal blow, cutting off the plants head. Admittedly it was much easier to cut off a mushroom top than it was any other head.

That left the dragon, and the bugs but she imagined Raine could handle them just fine. The dragon, however, was going to be something else. They had come across plants and bugs before, but dragons were completely new.

The dragon launched towards her with a loud roar, its claws were stretched out in front of it and jaws wide for the kill. Dylan did her best to dodge the fangs but was not quick enough to avoid the claws. She let out a cry of pain as the claws caught her abdomen.

"Dyl!" Raine called out as she heard her friend's cry. She looked past her opponent to where her friend was clutching her stomach, making sure she was relatively okay. Ignoring the Giant Beetle left her open for the attack she should have seen coming. It struck her with its pincers in her leg, forcing the healer onto her knees. Glaring at the bug, she struck it faster and harder than she ever had, effectively slaying the beetle once and for all.

Doing her best to stand regardless of her injured leg, she summoned a magic circle focusing on healing Dylan before herself. "First aid!" A green glow engulfed the warrior, healing both the gash on her stomach and the scrapes on her back.

Dylan shot a quick look of gratitude before focusing back on the dragon that was swinging around to have another go at her. It gnashed its fangs at her, growling menacingly. She stalked around it, anticipating the next attack. She raised her swords up, getting ready to counterattack.

The dragon lunged again; she rolled, missing its jaws by mere centimeters, coming to a stop under the dragons' chest. She knew she had to be fast, on her own she wasn't likely to get another shot at a strike like this. She thrust the swords upwards, aiming between the ribcage, like she had with the bandit they had run into at the beginning of their journey. Unfortunately, a dragon's anatomy was slightly different to that of a human, so instead of slipping between the ribs she had accidentally hit the bone. The force in which she had put behind the thrust caused the sword to bend and snap as it hit the thick rib bone.

The Wyvern, who had previously been wondering where his dinner had disappeared to, was now quite aware as to where she had gone. It let out a mighty roar as it swung around, moving off the warrior. It rounded on her, hissing and snarling, blood dripping from its open wound. It stomped towards her as she scrambled to her feet.

By this point Raine had fully healed herself and was ready to jump into the action in defense of her friend. She raced towards the Wyvern, swinging her staff. She struck the dragon as hard as she could across the haunches hoping to deter it from eating Dylan –and also giving her the chance to finally slay it. Her distraction worked, the dragon swung towards her, knocking Dylan back over with its tail.

Raine began to back up, the dragon monster encroaching on her. _Dylan get up,_ she mentally prayed, _please get up_.

And get up she did. With her one good sword in her hand, and the broken one lying where it snapped, she advanced on the dragon, her movements unknown to the beast as it was focusing on its new prey. The wound she had inflicted on the monster was the perfect landmark, she now knew where the ribs were and from there she could determine where the heart was. She charged forward, rolling once more under the dragon's underbelly just as it became aware of her advances.

It tried to move away, but instead lined itself up perfectly for Dylan. With all her might, she drove the thin blade through the Wyvern's thick hide. It glided between the ribs, hitting the heart dead on. Just as swiftly as she had stabbed, she retracted the blade and moved out from under the collapsing monster as it writhed in pain. With one last mighty roar, its legs gave out and the lifeless form lay still forevermore.

Dylan lay on her back panting. The fact that one of her beloved blades was broken had yet to register in her mind. That battle had been way too close for comfort. "Maybe we do need some muscle," she wheezed, "or something to get us out of difficult situations like that."

Raine strode over to her out-of-breath comrade, sitting down on the grass beside her. "Perhaps we should have brought Noishe with us?"

Dylan let out an airy laugh, "Noishe? He'd be gone before we could even get up on to his back."

Raine couldn't help but laugh, her friend had a point. "Shall we set up camp?"

Dylan pulled a look of disgust. "I don't know about you, but I do _not_ want to sleep beside a rotting dragon corpse." She forced herself up onto shaky legs, steadying herself with Raine's staff, as it was offered when the "elf" feared her friend would collapse. After a few deep breaths, she felt confident enough to stand on her own. It was then that she looked down at her hand, her left hand... which was holding Raine's staff instead of her other sword. "Where's 'Peace'?" she asked, referring to the sword that had the symbol for 'peace' on its hilt.

Raine grimaced and pointed towards the broken, metal blade, the sun making it shimmer in the grass. She wanted to say something, knowing how much the twin swords meant to her, knowing that only a dwarf could repair the blades. Dirk was month away, and that was counting times where they might just continue on through the night. It took them a week and a half to reach Triet from Iselia, sure they had run into minor monsters on the way and that slowed down their trip and of course they had to stop by traveling merchants to resupply and what not, but even cutting those incidences out it would still take at least a week. And then it was a further two days from Ossa to Triet, plus however long it took to get from Izoold to Ossa. Monsters were a big time consumer, especially after exhausting battles like the one they had just faced which left them drained and not wanting to go any further.

The trip from Palmacosta to Izoold was even more unpredictable, not only were there sea monsters, but weather played a pivotal role in how quickly traveling by boat could be. What might be a two to three day trip could easily be set back to a week; or they might even get stuck in Palmacosta for a further few days waiting for fairer weather. Either way, it was not looking good for the sword.

Dylan picked up the hilt of "Peace", holding it as though it were a fallen comrade. In a way it was. "Truth" and "Peace" were the first two swords that Dirk had made specifically for her. Sure, he made lots of swords that she would use, but none of them were specifically _for_ her. A lot of the time, he would just ask her to test the durability or balance of the sword in battle. Dirk was a fine craftsman, to be sure, but a warrior he was not. She knew it was dangerous, but she couldn't help but bring the hilt with her, the blade was gone, it would be too easy to hurt themselves by trying to save the blade, but the beautifully crafted hilt, she had to. Taking her pack off her back, as well as "Peace's" sheath -which carried the symbols for loyalty and justice- she "sheathed" the broken hilt, tying it securely in place with a small piece of rope from within her pack. With a sigh, she slid the weapon back on; it was going to be weird not being able to draw "Peace" when she would draw "Truth", but she would have to get used to it.

No words were spoken between the two for some time, the only sound being that of screeching hawk overhead.

"It's fitting," Dylan finally said as Raine was getting to her feet, "that it would be "Peace" that broke. Considering the state in which Sylvarant is in."

Raine didn't respond, not knowing if Dylan was actually speaking to her or just to herself. All she did was smile and place a hand on her shoulder in both a comforting as well as a congratulatory manner; comforting for the loss of a valued memento, and congratulating the victory over such a strong opponent. "Let's get going before another one of those shows up."

"Yeah," Dylan lightly laughed, "we wouldn't want "Truth" to get broken too." Despite how much "Peace" had meant to her, it was good for her to laugh over it, and at least she lost it in battle rather than over something silly, like Lloyd's first set of swords. Granted, his are wooden, but he still lost them in a completely ridiculous way. The two had been off exploring the woods, Dylan having her first set of "tester" swords and Lloyd with his first wooden ones. Well, of course one could do much more with real swords than with wooden ones, so when Dylan fought off one of the monsters dwelling in the forest, Lloyd had decided that he too wanted to try. Unfortunately he had picked a fight with a beaver and the animal ended up stealing his swords to finish its dam. Dylan hadn't laughed so hard in her life.

So at least now, if Lloyd decided to tease her about losing her sword, she could simply retort that at least she had lost it against a dragon, and not a beaver. That was something. She re-sheathed "Truth", content that her sword was lost to a good cause.

"Dyl, come on," Raine beckoned, taking out the water damaged map and trying to match the direction they were facing with the map's compass. While it did survive the boat fiasco, it did not come out unscathed. The map was not completely illegible, just a little smudgy. And now, since the fight with the dragon had them all turned around, they needed to figure out which direction Palmacosta had been in so that they could continue on their way towards Hakonesia Peak, while also staying wary of the Palmacosta Human Ranch.

Shielding her eyes slightly, Dylan looked upwards, using the sun as her compass. After a few seconds of looking from earth to sun and back to earth she pointed straight ahead of her, saying, "That's southwest, Palmacosta is in the direction." Turning around, she continued, "We want to go this way."

Raine looked down at her map and then back in the direction Dylan had indicated, "You're sure?"

Dylan walked over to her nodding, "We should at least try to make it to the river before setting up camp." She indicated the river on the map, "It's far enough away from the Human Ranch that we should be alright, plus fresh water for cooking and drinking. We can spend the next night at the House of Salvation for a change, a good nights rest will be well needed before tackling Hakonesia."

Raine put the map back in her bag, giving a small noise of agreement before leading the way. The two continued on, more exhausted and yet still just as cheerful as they had been when they first began their journey.

* * *

Goodness gracious I appear to be on some sort of roll here, but sorry no Kratos in this one. I was contemplating it, but then I was like 'nah, we don't need anymore brooding Kratos for now'. I thought, since you all have been wonderfully patient with me, to give you a little glimpse of things to come after the first half of this story is done. The first "bonus" will definitely be happening while the second I'm not sure yet. Anyways, enjoy

* * *

Bonus #1

"_I_ am going to _kill_ you!"

Yuan didn't bother turning to meet the enraged look of Dylan, he was quite used to her death threats. In fact, he was actually becoming concerned that something was wrong since he hadn't heard one in quite some time. Now he felt a little more at ease, knowing nothing was wrong with her and that everything was relatively back to normal. "What do you think I did this time?" he asked, still not facing her.

"It's _not_ what I _think _you did, it's what _you _did, jerk-head."

"Name calling now? You haven't done that in a while, you must be _very _angry," he chuckled quite smugly, although he had always hoped she never noticed when he would ask that; apparently she had better hearing than he thought. Regardless he was prepared for whatever it was she was going to blame him for, as well as ready to disprove whatever it was. Then she, as usual, would leave still quite angry –though for a different reason than what she was angry about initially- and eventually it would blow over.

That was, of course, as long as he could disprove her claim, but considering that, as far as he knew, he hadn't done anything for her to be angry over, he had nothing to worry about. So with a small sigh, and finally turning to face her, he asked, "Alright, what did I do then?"

"You tried to kill my brother," there was a small pause of silence before she concluded with, "on numerous occasions!

Except for that.

Bonus #2

(I don't know where I would fit this one, nor have I thought about the events that lead up to this point, but I just feel like, knowing Dylan, this is a likely thing to happen… it might not ever make it into the actual story so you get to see a potential scene. Though, I also realize, this could very well work with Raine... so if it does happen it might be in the first half...)

"Her illness is getting worse," he mumbled to himself more than anyone as he, quite literally, dragged a struggling, and delusional, Dylan over to the bed. "Dylan, you are sick and being absolutely ridiculous; I'm going to have to leave you here and handle this alone."

"Am not," moaned she, fighting him with what little strength she had, "and you know you'll never get through the kitties without my help. They're crafty." She stumbled through her words like a drunk, and continued mumbling to herself about the "evil kitties" long after Yuan had stopped pay attention.

"Kitties?" Botta questioned.

"Katz people," Yuan clarified, "since they've begun migrating from their home island we've been seeing them everywhere. She thinks they're going to start a revolution; take over the world and enslave us all."

"Is that before or after she got sick?"

"I wish I could say after…"

* * *

On an unrelated note, I've been working on a very rough sketch of Dylan riding Cielo… Cielo is looking quite cool… Dylan on the other hand –my inept ability of horrible people drawing shining here- is not. Also, there is a new poll for people to take on my profile regarding this story. It is on how Dylan and Raine should come to get Cielo... yes he will be making an appearance soonish... though not for, at least, another four chapters.

Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all next time!


	6. A brief interlude AKA Author's Note

Just a quick heads up. The next chapter won't be out nearly as quickly as the last one, as I am starting to get more homework. It will most likely be out sometime before the end of the month but do not be surprised if it takes until February. I am beginning to replay Tales of Symphonia again, and being reminded of somethings that I have forgotten. Admittedly, when I originally began writing this I had forgotten why Raine was afraid of water -I forgot that it had been explained in the game and that the "incident" happened before Genis and Raine got to Iselia. That is why in the last chapter I did try to fix it by saying that Raine wasn't actually excited by rather playing up excitement so that Dylan wouldn't suspect anything.

I also thought I'd give you a bit of a overview of what's to come. In the next chapter, there will be more journeying, probably stopping at or while going over Hakonesia Peak, I probably won't be getting to Asgard for another two chapters following Hakonesia. What will our heroes be doing for those two chapters... that is for me to figure out and you to read later... they'll probably get lost. I don't know why, but whenever I'm going to Asgard from Hakonesia, even though I know it's RIGHT THERE, I keep getting lost. This time around I made it all the way to Hima before I figured out where it was. Honestly.

Kratos will probably get some screen time, as well as Lloyd, Genis, and Dirk -we might as well know what's happening in Iselia now that Dylan and Raine are gone. I'm contemplating having another Renegades appearance, we'll see. The first half of the story is probably about a third done now as the second half doesn't start until Lloyd and the others have actually left on their journey. Which won't be for another ten years... in story time. I finally figured out their ages -Lloyd and Dylan. Right now, Dylan is fifteen and Lloyd is eight. By the time this first journey is over Dylan will be eighteen and Lloyd eleven. Dylan will join Yuan when she's about twenty -making Lloyd about fourteen, and when the journey of regeneration starts up Lloyd will be eighteen, of course, and Dylan will be twenty five. It all works out.

That's all for now, hope you all are enjoying what is being written.


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